I know not why, but all the noblest arts hold in perfection but for a very little moment. They soon reach a height from which they begin to decline, and when they have begun to decline it is a pity that they cannot be knocked on the head; for an art is like a living organism – better dead than dying.

— Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler Quotes

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.

— Samuel Butler

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children.

— Samuel Butler

It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents.

— Samuel Butler

They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, ‘Can he name a kitten?’

— Samuel Butler

It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly.

— Samuel Butler

Our minds want clothes as much as our bodies.

— Samuel Butler

Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.

— Samuel Butler

People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.

— Samuel Butler

Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness.

— Samuel Butler

A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those worth committing.

— Samuel Butler

The sinews of art and literature, like those of war, are money.

— Samuel Butler

Nobody shoots at Santa Claus.

— Samuel Butler

Opinions have vested interests just as men have.

— Samuel Butler

Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children.

— Samuel Butler

We are not won by arguments that we can analyse but by tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself.

— Samuel Butler

The worst thing that can happen to a man is to lose his money, the next worst his health, the next worst his reputation.

— Samuel Butler

Self-preservation is the first law of nature.

— Samuel Butler

Survival

No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction.

— Samuel Butler

I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

— Samuel Butler

A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened is as bad as one who does not know how to forget.

— Samuel Butler

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